1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to multipurpose body pillows. In a further aspect, the invention concerns a generally C-shaped pillow which can be wrapped around a human torso and used to keep the hands of the human warm while supporting the arms of the human.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many adults or adolescents participate in activities which make it desirable to support certain objects or body parts. For example, with activities such as reading, typing, breast feeding, and alike, it is often desired to support the arms or elbows. A variety of conventional C-shaped multipurpose pillows are available for performing the supporting functions described above. However, in certain instances, it is desirable not only to support the arms of the human donning the pillow, but also to keep the hands of the human warm. This is especially true in outdoor activities such as hunting.
Certain types of hunting activities (e.g., deer hunting and turkey hunting) may require the hunter to remain virtually motionless for long periods of time. During these motionless periods of time, the hunter must remain in a position which allows him or her to rapidly transition into a firing position with minimal movement. Therefore, it is desirable to support the hunter""s arms, and perhaps even the hunter""s weapon, in a resting position which minimizes body fatigue and keeps the hunter""s arms and weapon close to the firing position. One disadvantage of hunting in cold weather is that gloves must be worn on the hunter""s hands. Typically, these gloves are too cumbersome to remain on the hunter""s hands when firing the weapon. Thus, the hunter must take extra time and make extra movements to remove the gloves when transitioning from the resting position to the firing position. This extra time and motion of removing the gloves may startle the animal and/or allow it to escape.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a multipurpose support pillow which can simultaneously support the arms of a human while keeping the hands of the human warm.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, claims, and drawing figures.
Accordingly, in one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a hand-warming pillow comprising a generally C-shaped main pillow body and a panel coupled to the main pillow body. The main pillow body presents an outer surface. A pocket portion of the outer surface is covered by the panel. The panel and pocket portion define a hand-warming pocket therebetween. The hand-warming pocket is sized to receive human hands therein.
In another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a handwarming pillow comprising a generally C-shaped main pillow body, a fastener, a panel, and a hand-warming pocket. The main pillow body has first and second terminal body ends. The main pillow body presents an outer body surface including a normally upper portion and a normally lower portion. The fastener is operable to releasably couple the terminal body ends to one another. The panel presents wide and narrow opposite panel ends and a pair of tapered opposite panel sides. The panel ends are coupled to the main body pillow and the panel sides are detached from the main body pillow. The panel covers a pocket portion of the upper half of the outer body surface. The hand-warming pocket is defined between the panel and the pocket portion of the outer body surface.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of supporting a pair of human arms and warming a corresponding pair of human hands. The method comprises the steps of: (a) wrapping a generally C-shaped pillow around the torso of a human; (b) resting the pair of human arms on the pillow; and (c) inserting the pair of human hands into a hand-warming pocket of the pillow.